Employees of the Senate are appealing to senators to also consider the regularization and salaries of government workers as they tackle the proposals to lower their optional and mandatory retirement age.
The Sandigan ng mga Empleyadong Nagkakaisa sa Adhikain ng Demokratikong Organisasyon (SENADO), the union of Senate employees, issued a statement expressing their reservations on the bills seeking to lower the retirement age for government employees.
Senate Bill Nos. 72, 715, 738, 958, and House Bill No. 5509 all seeking to lower the mandatory and optional retirement age to 60 years old are pending before the Committee on Civil Service, Government Reorganization, and Professional Regulation chaired by Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr.
While saying they are open to the passage of the bill, "we also recommend that the Committee should also give due attention to the regularization of the casual, contractual, contract of service, and job order workers in the bureaucracy who have been in the service for a very long time."
In its statement, which was also submitted to the Senate committee, the SENADO also called on the lawmakers to address the "wide disparity" in the current salary scheme in government, saying that some workers receive a "meager" income of P12,000 while executives get "hundreds of thousands of pesos."
"Maybe then we could provide an enjoyable life for low-income earners in the government while they are still in the service if their compensation will be advanced through the granting of a national minimum wage of P16,000," the union said.
They also said that the proposed lowering of the retirement age was similar to the government rightsizing bill, since an early retirement is being offered for those who will be affected by the rightsizing.
The union claimed that pushing for both the lowering of the retirement age and rightsizing "is more of conditionality for the ballooning debts the current administration has incurred and for the debts it will still accumulate for the remaining years."
"The government seeks to reduce its spending by trimming down the bureaucracy to gain a good credit rating and prove its ability to pay its debt," SENADO claimed.
Aside from these, the group also warned that the delivery of social services could be affected if there is a shortage of government employees to serve the public.
Citing data from the Civil Service Commission, it said the number of government personnel declined by 110,391 from 1,839,032 in 2018, to 1,728, 641 in May, 2019.
"As we speak of efficiency and productivity in the bureaucracy, we must ensure that there are enough public servants to implement government programs and deliver much needed social services quickly and effectively," SENADO said.